Top 10 Education Stories of 2015: Choice, Judges, and Common Core

Jarratt is the former managing editor of Champion News, an Illinois based news website focused on reporting on Education and Illinois Politics, and former managing editor of Education Matters. Jarratt has presented analysis on Common Core, School Choice analysis on Fox News, Breitbart, ABC Chicago and multiple radio outlets and newspapers across Illinois.

States have continued to drop Common Core, in totality or part, choosing to rewrite, modify and rename the standards for their state. Missouri and Tennessee joined South Carolina in writing their own standards, thereby replacing CCSS. Other states undertaking a review of CCSS: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York and Utah. Read more at “Research & Commentary: New York Common Core Task Force.”

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, they are proving that school choice and accountability works in a large urban environment. Graduation rates and test scores have shown significant improvement. Instead of 62 percent of students attending failing schools, only seven percent do today. Read more at “Ten Years after Katrina the Results Point a Path Forward Improving Education.”

1. Nevada ESA’s for all

In June, Nevada passed a law providing and Education Savings Account (ESA) allowing all students in public school to choose another education option if they wanted. This law makes 93 percent of students in the state eligible making it the largest choice program in the country.